


I said 'We Are Going To Die!', okay?

by Hunterisdone



Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Basically just Turlough and Graham bickering, Episode: s12e07 Can You Hear Me?, Gen, I Don't Even Know, I wish Turlough could come back though, I'd watch that show, Inspired by the episode with the Eternals, Not Beta Read, Not To Be Taken Too Seriously, One Shot, that one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25731595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hunterisdone/pseuds/Hunterisdone
Summary: After a conspiracy brings Turlough back into the company of the Doctor, the Trion is reminded of all the things he left behind all those years ago on Sarn when he decided to go back home.When the Doctor leaves him alone in the TARDIS with one of her new companions however, Turlough finds it all too easy to fall into old childish routines... Human's just seem to have that effect on him - maybe theyareall as annoying as Tegan.-=-Alternatively:Turlough thinks he's smarter than he actually is and now they're both in trouble.
Relationships: Graham O'Brien & Vislor Turlough, Tegan Jovanka & Vislor Turlough (mentioned), The Doctor & Vislor Turlough, Thirteenth Doctor & Vislor Turlough
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	I said 'We Are Going To Die!', okay?

**Author's Note:**

> All started from when I watched 'Can You Hear Me?' and it gave me overwhelming 'Enlightenment' (which you should go watch - such a good 5 ep) vibes.  
> This then naturally caused my brain to wonder how Turlough could interact with the current TARDIS crew...  
> ...and then I instantly had Graham and Turlough arguing and went from there (and so to here)  
> I started this after that episode aired but have recently picked it back up which just shows how great my work ethic is ;)

“Right,” Said the Doctor, clapping her hands together in the same way Turlough remembered his Doctor doing, even though it felt so long ago, “That settles it. Yaz and Ryan, you’re with me. Graham, you stay here in the TARDIS with Turlough. The TARDIS shields should keep you both safe from their scanners.”

Turlough watched her start to walk away with her two chosen companions in tow, “So, still don’t trust me enough to leave me in here alone?”

He had thrown out his line and Turlough managed to actually reel the Doctor back in from the door as she paused and turned around to face him. With a haunted face, she cast him her own look, “Now come on Turlough, do you really think-”

A mischievous grin replaced his disingenuous frown, “I’m just joking Doctor.” He smiled in his typical (debatably) ‘sweet’ manner before softening in a very un-Turlough-like manner when he realised how seriously she had actually taken him, “but it’s nice to see you actually care about… Well, _me_.”

“After everything, did you ever honestly think I never did?” She asked earnestly and for once Turlough had no immediate snarky come back, so he ended up just blanking her. Now it was the Doctor’s turn to smile and she pointed a finger at him like the father (or Turlough supposed it was ‘ _mother’_ now) he remembered her as being, “Now, Turlough be nice to Graham for me until we get back.” Satisfied, she turned around and closed the door behind her, joining her other two companions outside to investigate the beacon’s signal they had followed.

Still inside where he had been left sitting, Turlough mulled over her words as stared at the now closed doors. Once upon a time Turlough would have protested, complained at the unjustness of being cast aside like fodder, yet, in his older age, he found himself at an understanding. Or, at the least, closer to one. And besides, he didn’t exactly feel like running around and getting shot at this particular afternoon anyway, so he was more than glad to watch them go instead.

Yet, the TARDIS without Tegan was just as he remembered it: dull and empty. For once he found himself longing for the shrill Australian yelling something or other about ‘trust’ and how she ‘didn’t see it ever going in the same sentence as ‘Turlough’. One _particularly_ aggravating afternoon with him she had even gone as far as ‘Or the same paragraph’. At least with her around, Turlough would have had something to do – winding up Tegan had never seemed to get boring no matter how much he did it.

Reminiscing about his wayward younger years, Turlough was then brought from the past back to the present by awkward cough. Sighing exaggeratively, he saw the man he had been left whilst the others went out and had ‘fun’. He was stuck yet again with another human – life really did enjoy making him squirm. At least he wasn’t in that ridiculous school uniform anymore. There was that at least.

“Chess?” He suggested considering there were other ways to pass time than causing chaos – besides, it wasn’t much fun when the Doctor wasn’t around anyway.

“Suppose so” Graham shrugged and, with that, they both left the console room in search for a board.

-=-=- ** _Some shenanigans_ and _lots of chess games later_ which the writer asks you to imagine…**-=-=-

“We are going to die!” Turlough spat distastefully but not with a hint of surprise or panic in his tone, as if telling Graham he had put him in check again, as the Trion and all the pieces from the board were suddenly thrown by an alarmingly strong jolt, “That’s them outside. So much for the Doctor’s supposed shields!” Turlough had one word for this and it was: _typical_. This was so _typical_ when travelling with the Doctor. He had forgotten to stop expecting everything to work out nicely now he was back in the TARDIS as it _typically_ didn’t.

“A real cheery chap ain’t you” Graham commented ( _unhelpfully_ noted Turlough as he gave the human the full power of his evil eye) as they raced down the corridor back to the console room as another ‘thud!’ swayed them from side to side.

“ _You_ clearly haven’t travelled with the Doctor for very long” The ginger spoke over his shoulder, leading the way with only his intuition as his guide. He suspected the other man know his way around the TARDIS about as well as he did – then again, Turlough supposed, no one would ever know it as well as the Doctor. They were all forever to be the rats in a maze of endless corridors.

Graham leapt onto Turlough’s jab like a cat catching the aforementioned trapped rat as he barely gave the Trion any time to finish, “I’ve travelled with her long enough to know if there’s a problem the Doc can fix it.” He interrupted.

Turlough couldn’t help but scoff at that, “You humans and your blind optimism!” he laughed cruelly as they continued down winding corridors and walkways. Why the Doctor needed so many rooms was beyond him… Turlough felt like that girl he remembered reading about – the one that had gone down the ‘rabbit hole’ or whatever it had been. That had certainly been in one of the _weirder_ human books he had read whilst in exile. Though nothing compared to Trion literature, it _had_ beat reading Shakespeare at least.

“What?” The older man grabbed Turlough’s arm in laughing disbelief at the absurdist statement, “As opposed to your blind erm…” Graham’s face suddenly fell sheepish as he realised he didn’t actually know what race of alien Turlough was, “blind _alien_ pessimism!”

“Yes actually!” Turlough snarked, finding it scarily easy to fall into old routines as he mocked Graham’s ignorance, “At least we ‘ _aliens’_ have a firm grasp on reality!”

“You’ve a funny definition of ‘reality’ then” Graham retaliated.

Turlough _very nearly_ gave the human a piece of his mind but, instead of taking the time they didn’t have to lecture the man about the insignificance and backwardness of the human race compared to the wider galaxy, he chose to bite his tongue, unwilling to rise to the obvious bait. _He was the fisherman, not the fish here_! Instead, he ignored the comment, using the logic that there would be all time he wanted to argue _later_ but not if they didn’t get back to the console room and save themselves _now_.

Once they finally reached the console room and Turlough really took in how vastly different it had become since his voyages, he felt a wave of nausea overcome him as he stood, stuck in the entrance. Suddenly he was taken by how large the TARDIS had now become and how complicated the console now appeared to be – even simply where the door control once was, now was a hash of complicated wiring and frantically blinking lights.

Graham all but shoved Turlough into the main control room, “Do something!” He cried knowing himself to be completely useless in the current situation. Despite having watched the Doctor pilot her TARDIS countless times, he still had no clue which button did what.

“Did you miss the part where I said: ‘We are going to die!’?” Turlough retorted regaining his composure as ran over to the central console to try and dematerialise or at least do something useful.

“Well do something then!” The human demanded and, not for the first time, wished the Doctor hadn’t left him behind. Then again, knowing how travelling with the Doctor typically went, Yaz and Ryan were probably having just as rotten luck wherever they were.

“I am, I am!” Insisted Turlough, circling the console looking for the right lever. From Turlough’s ‘smarter-than-thou’ demeanour, Graham had expected the alien smart-arse would at least know the handbrake from the window-wipers. Nevertheless, as he watched, it seemed Turlough was about as unknowledgeable as Graham was. _Brilliant_.

“Well, I’m trying to at least!” Added Turlough defensively afterwards when he realised he couldn’t find it. ‘ _If only Nyssa was here’_ he mused, ‘ _she’d always been good with the TARDIS’_. Even now, when the console looked like it had been reorganised and designed by a blindfolded toddler, Turlough knew she'd know exactly what needed to be pressed and what to be pulled to save them.

Defeated and now panicking also as an even stronger blast threw them both to the ground, Turlough pulled himself to his feet as quickly as he could. Grabbing whatever lever was closest it to him, he pulled it in desperation. Then, as the TARDIS started to whine and sputter, he was violently knocked back to the floor. Tightly screwing his eyes closed, he didn’t bother trying to get back up again, instead, he let out the worst Trion curses he knew and prayed he had pulled the right one as he waited for the bombardment to stop.

Still on the floor, Graham watched from the side and, although he didn’t want to say it, perhaps Turlough had been right all along. This was it for them.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Do let me know what you think?** I hope everyone appears in character... Though I realise this fic kinda reads like a word salad. Please do point out any typos or errors - thanks :)  
> I tried for a somewhat humorous tone or at the least a semi-serious one which I don't normally (successfully) do...  
> -~-  
> Sidenote - I'm not really a fan of the last two seasons but I found some of season 12 enjoyable so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Turlough has always been a favourite of mine :)  
> Also, I know I'm supposed to be writing Spider-Man stuff but atm my life is borderline kinda falling apart so sorry guys who are waiting. All I have is this shorty for now.


End file.
